Gargoyles are badass. When I saw Aerodactyl, I saw the prehistoric creature could be adapted into right away - the greyish body, the draconian aesthetic, bat wings...It all added up It was time to make a gargoyle!

This was an absolute blast to draw. The style was done with a comic book feel in mind, although it doesn't reflect any particular style. I just painted and filled in the areas with thoughts to shadow and lighting. The comic book mentality came to mind when I thought of Batman standing on them on his many toys, statues, and comic book covers.

Not to mention, you had that Disney Gargoyle's show that Bruce Timm was animation producer of and the Batman connection to the Animated Series must have provided some influence in the back of my mind.

For Aerodactyl, I adapted the arms to be more humanoid to fit with the scheme of gargoyles - the pose seen here is heavily referenced from one such statue. I looked into many different gargoyles to mix and match but eventually I just wanted to keep things basic and so started working from my head, adding details sparcely.

The work is depicted in a moment when lightning flashes across the skies, and therefore creates dramatic lighting against the figure. I painted tonally in purple to give homage to the purple wings of Aerodactyl because falling back on a stone grey would be a bit too boring. I made sure to highlight areas with light streaks which really gives certain areas of the statue a lot of "oomph".

This has got to be one of my most favorite pieces to date - just plain cool and badass to look at. Imagine how I felt drawing it. Now, I think it's time to take my leave and get started on tomorrow's work...I've been at it for a while; all I can say is that it's one of the most ambitious works to date...Whatever that means! Thanks for looking at Aerodactyl today and reading the write up. See ya tomorrow!

Yours,

Bonny

+ Pokemon One a Day is a series illustrated and curated by Bonny John in an effort to represent the the first generation of characters from the world wide phenomenon that is known as Pokemon. The idea is simple - to draw and share one new Pokemon a day (weekends off!) until every Pokemon from the set is completed. This project is an exploration of fine art styles for learning and leisurely purposes.